Yemeni-based Houthi forces have attacked more than two dozen vessels transiting the Red Sea since the October 7, 2023, start of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, leading to a surge in marine war insurance premiums. Houthi...more
On February 14, 2024, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, in Fernando Cantens and Ana Marie Cantens v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London, No. 3D22-0917 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 13, 2024), joined Florida’s Fourth District...more
The First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the New York Convention applies to an insurance arbitration dispute between a Puerto Rican company and Lloyd’s of London and that the convention preempts a Puerto Rican law...more
As discussed in a previous post, cyber insurance demand and premiums have significantly increased in recent years. Fitch Ratings forecasts that cyber-related premiums could balloon to $22.5 billion by 2025...more
Cyberinsurance spurs many complaints from US business. The cost is skyrocketing, retentions (deductibles) are rising quickly, and the insurance companies push their own panel lawyers on customers despite other relationships....more
Globalisation in virtually all business sectors is nothing new. Indeed, this phenomenon continues to expand and evolve, including broadening the scope of the global insurance market and its impact on litigation in the United...more
Parties to a contract generally can include in their agreement a provision preventing assignment of the agreement’s rights and remedies without the consent of both parties. ...more
Trial courts have started to rule and appellate courts are now being asked to decide whether government closure orders enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic cause restaurants “direct physical loss or damage to property” within...more
Recent regulatory developments of interest to insurers and their intermediaries. Among other things, includes UK FCA updates on preparing for the end of the UK-EU transition period. ...more
With Lloyd’s syndicates due to lose their EEA passporting rights on 31 December 2020, on 25 November the English High Court sanctioned a Part VII transfer of all policies (or parts of policies) insuring EEA risks from the...more
Building guarantee policies: PRA PS21/20 on extending policyholder protection - The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has published a policy statement, PS21/20, which contains a rule change to increase protection...more
It is an outcome few people expected. Back in August, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (Panel) refused plaintiffs’ requests to set up a single industry-wide multi-district litigation, which would have...more
The US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (Panel) previously declined to centralize all coronavirus (COVID-19)-related business interruption insurance lawsuits, but left open the possibility of certain...more
In opposing a motion to compel arbitration, Nueces County made two procedural arguments: first, that the carrier waived its right to arbitrate by virtue of the policy’s service-of-suit clause....more
In a case out of Ohio, the Sixth Circuit recently held that the underwriters of two policies through Lloyd’s of London are not liable for a $2.2 million judgment awarded after a plaintiff was injured on a hunting trip. The...more
The Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has rejected efforts to centralize pretrial proceedings in actions in Pennsylvania and Illinois seeking insurance coverage for business interruption losses resulting from COVID-19. The...more
The Joint Panel on Multidistrict Litigation declines petitions for an industry-wide MDL, but will consider four insurer-specific MDLs. In declining the petitions for an industry-wide MDL, the panel concluded that the...more
On July 10, 2020, Lloyd’s of London (“Lloyd’s”) issued Market Bulletin Ref: Y5299 (the “Bulletin”) announcing that it will seek to relinquish its admitted licenses in Kentucky, Illinois and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration against insurers but not brokers related to a commercial insurance dispute....more
In a dispute centering on the preclusive effect of an arbitration award, the defendant sought to enjoin the plaintiff’s arbitration demand as it was an attempt to collaterally attack the confirmed award. ...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration despite an insured’s claim that the operative arbitration clause was unconscionable because it required the arbitration panel to...more
When the National Weather Service names a storm heading in your direction, you know to expect wind and water. This can create a quandary for property insurers. Is water damage from a named windstorm caused by the flood or the...more
Defendants, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s and its third-party claims administrator, CJW & Associates, sought to enforce a mandatory arbitration clause in a Lloyd’s policy issued to the plaintiffs. ...more
Financial services firms have spent a small fortune in planning for a post-Brexit world. Now that the UK has left the EU and we are in an implementation period due to end on 31 December 2020, this article looks at what forms...more
Many homeowners insurance policies allow the insurer or the insured to invoke appraisal to resolve disagreements about the amount of the loss. Nonetheless, when one party invokes appraisal, the other party will sometimes...more